


Sacrificio

by aguantare



Series: Sin Fronteras [21]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 00:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14153142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aguantare/pseuds/aguantare
Summary: "Es que...I need a favor,” Javier says, and Hector can tell just by the tone of his voice that something's very wrong.





	Sacrificio

**Author's Note:**

> People who get detained by immigration can sometimes be eligible for a bond, which is similar to criminal bails/bonds in that it's money paid by the person to get out of detention while their case is pending. Even though immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal, immigration bonds can be thousands of dollars, and can vary widely in terms of amounts. 
> 
> Disclaimer: don't know them, don't own them, don't sue me

Hector almost doesn't pick up the call. It's the middle of dinner rush and Andres is flipping his shit because food isn't going out fast enough, but Hector glances at the screen, sees it's a local area code, and he figures what the hell. Maybe it's Raul or Carlos with a new phone. 

“Hello?”

“Moreno.”

“Hernandez?” Hector double checks the phone screen. “What's up _hombre_? You got a new phone or something?”

“No, _es que_...I need a favor,” Javier says, and Hector can tell just by the tone of his voice that something's very wrong. 

“Okay, man, whatever you need,” he tells the man who saved his life not once but twice on the trip up here to the U.S. He catches Andres eyeing him suspiciously from across the kitchen, raises a placating hand, and Andres holds up 5 fingers for 5 minutes. Hector shoots him a thumbs up and heads for the back door of the kitchen, phone still clutched to his ear. 

“What's going on?” he asks as he steps out into the alley behind the restaurant and the kitchen noise dies away. 

“I uh...” Javier sighs, deep and heavy. “Immigration showed up at the warehouse this morning.”

Hector closes his eyes for a second. Of all the things Javier could have said, it had to be this one. 

“What do you need?” he asks, leaning back against the outside wall of the restaurant, feeling the sharp bricks digging into his back. 

“They gave me a...a _fianza_?”

“Bond,” Hector supplies. He's far more familiar with that term than he'd like to be. Three years isn't nearly enough to dull the memory of sitting in a courtroom downtown, listening to a judge deny his father bond and order him deported.

“Yeah, that,” Javier says, “And it's $5000.”

Hector looks down at his feet. He feels so, so old all of a sudden.

“I can--” He starts to say that he can make it work. He doesn't actually know if it's true, but he's pretty good at living off a shoestring budget. And skipping a few (or even more than a few) meals near the end of the month isn't anything new for him.

“No, _es que_ , it's not—I'm not asking, _estoy_ \--I would never ask for you to--” Javier's protest is stuttered half-English, half-Spanish, something that really only happens nowadays when he's upset. Abruptly he cuts himself off with a frustrated huff.

“...¿ _Entonces que quieres_?” Hector asks, gently.

“There's—I have money at my place. I just need you to go and get it.”

“You have $5000 just lying around?”

Javier is quiet for an unusually long time.

“ _Ya vas a ver_ , okay? You'll get it when you go. If you can go, I mean.”

“Don't be dumb, of course I can go.” Hector rubs at his forehead with his free hand, wishes he could be there at the detention center, wishes he could give some other solace besides being a retrieval service. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. 

“Yeah.” Javier heaves another sigh. “Hey, Hector?” 

Hector can't remember the last time Javier called him by his first name.

“Yeah, _hombre_.”

“Don't think bad of me, okay? _Cuando ves_ , just--if I thought there was another way, but there isn't.”

Hector frowns even though Javier can't see it. 

“What do you mean?”

Another pause, even longer this time. 

“ _Ya te dije_ , you'll see, when you go.”

-

Hector goes by Javier's apartment that night, uses the key that Javier gave him months ago to let himself in. He heads for the bedroom, opens up the closet, and the yellow-orange envelope is right where Javier told him it would be, nestled back behind a basket of shoes. He reaches in and pulls it out, and it's appropriately bulky and heavy. 

As he turns it over though, he stops short. Because written across the front, in Javier's characteristic scrawl, are the words “For Ana's Quince.” 

_Oh_ , Hector thinks. And then, _of course_. 

Because of course Javier was saving up for his little sister's _quinceañera_. And of course he had it stashed away so he could send it back to Guadalajara all at once, just in time to surprise everyone. And of course he would expect Hector to think badly of him for using the money to pay his own bond, while at the same time refusing to let Hector even offer to pay instead. 

Hector sinks down on the edge of the bed, envelope in hand. He's not exactly sure how long he sits there. It's not because he's in turmoil, not because he's undecided. It's just that it's all so quintessentially Javier that it kind of makes Hector's heart hurt.

If the positions were reversed, if it were him in jail instead, he thinks, there's no question as to what Javier would do for him, with or without his permission.

Eventually, he hauls himself to his feet, slides the envelope back where he found it, and heads for the door. 

After all, the envelope similarly tucked away in the back of his own closet a few miles away isn't spoken for yet.

**Author's Note:**

>  _hombre_ : man  
>  _es que_ : it's (just) that...  
>  _estoy_ : I'm  
> ¿ _Entonces que quieres_?: Then what do you want?  
>  _Ya vas a ver_ : You'll see  
>  _Cuando ves_ : When you see  
>  _Ya te dije_ : I already told you  
>  _quinceañera _: coming of age party for girls in Mexico (and other countries) held when a girl turns 15__


End file.
